Tag: Afghan Women

Ms. Global: Muslim Leaders Make Women’s Rights Plea to Taliban; Pakistan Reckons with Femicide and #JusticeForNoor

Ms. Global: Muslim Leaders Make Women’s Rights Plea to Taliban; Pakistan Reckons with Femicide and #JusticeForNoor

The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.

This week: A former senior diplomat in Israel alleges late-President Shimon Peres sexually assaulted her in the ’80s; Morocco’s new Parliament elects most women ministers in country’s history; Soccer players in Venezuela and Australia join the global #MeToo movement; Pakistan struggles to come to terms with a gruesome femicide; and more.

To Protect Afghan Girls, the Biden Administration Must Take Real Action: "No More Empty Promises"

To Protect Afghan Girls, the Biden Administration Must Take Real Action: “No More Empty Promises”

Taliban nostalgia threatens 20 years of progress for Afghan girls. The lives, aspirations and rights of girls are not just getting lost in the mix—they are actively being squashed.

How the U.S. responds will be a true test of whether the Biden administration’s stated commitment to gender equality applies in practice and beyond rhetoric. We don’t need another speech or more photo opportunities. We have enough promises. What we need is for President Biden to galvanize real action. Afghan girls deserve nothing less.

Taliban Announces Additional Government Officials—All Male and All Members of Their Old Guard

Taliban Announces Additional Government Officials—All Male, and All Members of Their Old Guard

Early this week, the Taliban announced additional members of their Cabinet, and once again, all of them are part of the old guard of the Taliban, despite promises of an inclusive government during peace talks. The 38 new members of the interim government of the Taliban were appointed to military and civilian positions. The leadership team still doesn’t include a single woman.

Ms. Global: Arab World Gets Its First Female Prime Minister; Historic Trans Representation in Germany; Islamophobia in the U.K.

Ms. Global: Arab World Gets Its First Female Head of State; Historic Trans Representation in Germany; Islamophobia in the U.K.

The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.

"Women's Rights Are Not Just 'Western Values'": A Warning Not to Learn the Wrong Lessons From Afghanistan

“Women’s Rights Are Not Just ‘Western Values'”: A Warning Not to Learn the Wrong Lessons From Afghanistan

In the wake of the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban, many in the international community and media have said that efforts in Afghanistan to secure women’s rights and human rights were doomed to fail because of the traditions and culture in my country. This is absolutely the wrong lesson to take away from our experience in Afghanistan. Human rights and women’s rights are not “Western values.”

Unprecedented Abortion Ban Takes Effect in Texas; U.S. Commemorates 20th Anniversary of 9/11

Keeping Score: Breonna Taylor Portrait Unveiled at Smithsonian; Texas’s Unprecedented Abortion Ban; Half the World’s Children at “Extremely High Risk” from Climate Change

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in in this biweekly round-up.

This week: Texas implements unprecedented pre-viability abortion ban; Biden’s Education Department forgives $5.8 billion in student loan debt for disabled borrowers; Supreme Court order maintain’s Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy; North Carolina bans child marriage under age 16; and more.

Afghanistan women

What Happens Now that Everyone Has Left Afghanistan? Increase Feminist Funding Now

Too often, aid has been delivered on behalf of women and girls. They have been boxes to be checked off and their rights used as tools of trade between men in power. This must end now.

Feminist funders have been supporting local Afghan feminist groups for decades with long-term flexible funds toward urgent community needs and long-term rebuilding. We need to vastly increase this feminist funding that goes directly to local grassroots groups to use how they wish. We know this feminist funding model works, even under repressive regimes, and even in Afghanistan.